So I have been thinking about joining the bullpup movement for a while. I have always been more of a traditionalist, so I have resisted these short little guns and considered them a bit of an oddity. That was until I started seeing posts about the .25 caliber Vulcan from Airgun Technology. The first thing that caught my eye was the reversable bolt that was moved forward on the gun so it could be actuated without moving your eye away from the scope. I was also intrigued by the reports of superior accuracy from this little bullpup. Finally I have to say that the Vulcan is one of the better looking bullpups on the market.
When I made the decision to take the plunge, as luck would have it, everyone was sold out. I contacted Charlie Frear at Georgia Air guns and was told that he would have a couple in within a week or two. Charlie helped me sort out my Cricket Carbine that I bought from WWAG a couple of years ago, so I was comfortable ordering from him and waiting a bit. Well it has arrived and I am happy to say that it was worth the wait. I received the gun in a very well packed outer box that contained an inner box from AGT and inside that was a nice plastic hard case that held the gun. If that wasn't enough, the gun was surrounded by a dense foam padding that kept the gun from sliding around inside the case. Nice touch!
So I took the rifle out and admired the clean lines and the very nice stock. I mounted up a Clearedge 3-9x32 scope as I wanted to keep the gun nice and light since I plan to make this a hunting gun. My crummy cell phone pictures won't do it justice, but here it is.
The gun comes with two 9 round magazines and a fill whip and probe. The magazines are quite easy to load and seem much more robust compared to the Marauder magazines I have used in the past. I set up my ultra sturdy (not!) shooting bench and sighted in the scope and did some shooting at 30 yards and could tell that this gun was going to be a good shooter. The gun I have is, I believe, a gen 3 which means that it has the latest moderator with a threaded end that will allow an additional moderator to be added to the end of the gun. If you are shooting indoors or in a very fussy neighborhood, you probably want to add a bit more silencing as the gun is still louder than some PCP's I have shot. That said, I live in the country and the sound is not a problem for me. It is low enough that I don't feel any need for hearing protection and I don't worry that I'll spook every squirrel in the forest with my first shot. The gun also comes with an improved manometer that makes it easier to see when the gun is at a full 250 bar fill.
Here is my wobbly shooting bench
Shooting on this setup is far from ideal and the scope I have chosen is also not the best for long distances with my old eyes, but even so, I was able to make some respectable groups at 50 yards with the gun. The next pic is a 5 shot group at 50 yards with a 3-5 mph wind:
Next, I shot a full 9 shots into another target at 50 yards:
And finally, I shot 4 full magazines at 50 yards to see if the point of impact stays consistent throughout the fill. I was pleased with this and am quite certain that if I was shooting from a more stable platform that the group would be smaller.
I did some chrony work, but I feel the gun is too new to worry about the consistency of the regulator. I did find that it was shooting 25 grain JSB kings at between 893 and 905 fps and the gun falls off the regulator at 150 Bar after about 30 shots. There was a bit of a rise in velocity when the gun came off the regulator, so I will test again when I have a thousand pellets through the gun and at that point I might experiment with a slightly lower (~135 bar) setting and an increase in hammer spring preload to see if I can get a few more shots out of the gun, but I am quite pleased with the way the gun shoots now.
If you are thinking about one of these guns I would highly recommend it and I also recommend Charlie Frear at Georgia Airguns. Charlie takes the time to shoot every gun he sells and he doesn't just take 10 shots and see that the gun cycles. He really puts them to the test so you can be sure the gun you receive will be free of any defects or flaws in how it shoots.
If you have any questions about the gun, feel free to ask away. I'll try to answer (that is when I'm not out shooting my new Vulcan!)
When I made the decision to take the plunge, as luck would have it, everyone was sold out. I contacted Charlie Frear at Georgia Air guns and was told that he would have a couple in within a week or two. Charlie helped me sort out my Cricket Carbine that I bought from WWAG a couple of years ago, so I was comfortable ordering from him and waiting a bit. Well it has arrived and I am happy to say that it was worth the wait. I received the gun in a very well packed outer box that contained an inner box from AGT and inside that was a nice plastic hard case that held the gun. If that wasn't enough, the gun was surrounded by a dense foam padding that kept the gun from sliding around inside the case. Nice touch!
So I took the rifle out and admired the clean lines and the very nice stock. I mounted up a Clearedge 3-9x32 scope as I wanted to keep the gun nice and light since I plan to make this a hunting gun. My crummy cell phone pictures won't do it justice, but here it is.
The gun comes with two 9 round magazines and a fill whip and probe. The magazines are quite easy to load and seem much more robust compared to the Marauder magazines I have used in the past. I set up my ultra sturdy (not!) shooting bench and sighted in the scope and did some shooting at 30 yards and could tell that this gun was going to be a good shooter. The gun I have is, I believe, a gen 3 which means that it has the latest moderator with a threaded end that will allow an additional moderator to be added to the end of the gun. If you are shooting indoors or in a very fussy neighborhood, you probably want to add a bit more silencing as the gun is still louder than some PCP's I have shot. That said, I live in the country and the sound is not a problem for me. It is low enough that I don't feel any need for hearing protection and I don't worry that I'll spook every squirrel in the forest with my first shot. The gun also comes with an improved manometer that makes it easier to see when the gun is at a full 250 bar fill.
Here is my wobbly shooting bench
Shooting on this setup is far from ideal and the scope I have chosen is also not the best for long distances with my old eyes, but even so, I was able to make some respectable groups at 50 yards with the gun. The next pic is a 5 shot group at 50 yards with a 3-5 mph wind:
Next, I shot a full 9 shots into another target at 50 yards:
And finally, I shot 4 full magazines at 50 yards to see if the point of impact stays consistent throughout the fill. I was pleased with this and am quite certain that if I was shooting from a more stable platform that the group would be smaller.
I did some chrony work, but I feel the gun is too new to worry about the consistency of the regulator. I did find that it was shooting 25 grain JSB kings at between 893 and 905 fps and the gun falls off the regulator at 150 Bar after about 30 shots. There was a bit of a rise in velocity when the gun came off the regulator, so I will test again when I have a thousand pellets through the gun and at that point I might experiment with a slightly lower (~135 bar) setting and an increase in hammer spring preload to see if I can get a few more shots out of the gun, but I am quite pleased with the way the gun shoots now.
If you are thinking about one of these guns I would highly recommend it and I also recommend Charlie Frear at Georgia Airguns. Charlie takes the time to shoot every gun he sells and he doesn't just take 10 shots and see that the gun cycles. He really puts them to the test so you can be sure the gun you receive will be free of any defects or flaws in how it shoots.
If you have any questions about the gun, feel free to ask away. I'll try to answer (that is when I'm not out shooting my new Vulcan!)
